Cagmo Orchestra: A Royal Performance, But Not Without Its Flaws

Cagmo Orchestra is a pretty well-known collective with multiple lineups that's been touring the country with a variety of concerts. Their ads online are super aggressive, trying to get you to buy tickets, and they're actually pretty frequent in our city.

I think it was in March when I saw that they were doing a double concert on May 13th – with a choir. They usually just do an orchestra, playing all sorts of popular music. Last year I didn't end up buying tickets for their Harry Potter concert, and this year I didn't see it on their tour schedule. So when I saw the ad for them coming with King and Jester songs, I immediately bought tickets.

Concert Organization

I went for the middle price range – 7th row, a bit off to the side but not right at the edge. I can say that in our concert hall, that's the perfect spot for the price and distance from the stage. From the 5th row onwards, there's a slight incline – it's perfect for someone of my height (I'm not super tall, but it didn't affect my view). The ticket price was 3,000 rubles, give or take.

I bought the tickets directly from their official website, since I saw that other services had a commission.

There were a lot of people in the hallway near the dressing rooms, so we figured the hall would be packed (and it was). The crowd was pretty nice, mostly people over 35, but there were some families with kids too.

Everyone settled in pretty quickly, and the concert started 10 minutes late. I think that was on purpose, so people who were running late could still get in.

The Concert Itself

There were no decorations at all. Just the necessary equipment for the musicians and a plastic screen for the drummer. I think his sound got drowned out by the other instruments because of the microphones.

On stage, there was a piano in the middle, with the musicians playing violins to the left and the choir behind the piano – 4 men and 4 women, with a few more musicians in the front (I'm sorry, I don't know the names of those instruments). There were around 20 people in total.

They started a bit weakly, despite the choir singers having pretty realistic voices. It felt like they were still warming up, like they needed to get their voices ready or something.

The concert was pretty long – 2 hours with a 10-minute intermission.

Many of the listeners were nostalgic, completely getting lost in the voices of the performers. The setlist was chosen really well.

As the night went on, the energy in the room just kept building. When they started playing some of KiSha's most popular songs, the crowd was totally into it - I mean, people were screaming 'Bravo!' and 'You guys are the best!' and all that.

It was really cool. At one point, some guy in the audience just yelled out 'There's nowhere to go but up!' - I was loving it.

It was clear that the performers were getting into it too - they started singing with way more emotion, moving to the music, rather than just standing or sitting there like statues.

The special effects were pretty cool too - there was a lot of smoke and lights. Honestly, that was enough for me. If you're sitting way in the back, you don't really need to worry about the visuals - just focus on the music.

I'm not going to pretend to be a music expert, but I thought the performers did a great job. We really enjoyed it.

They ended up playing 30 songs in total, including some of the lesser-known ones that are more popular among die-hard fans.

Of course, playing the hits really helped to recreate the original experience. It wasn't perfect, but it was close enough. The vibe was really nice, and I never got the feeling that it was just a parody or a copycat performance.

I think a 2-hour intermission would've been a good idea, though. Our venue had a pretty cool bar and buffet, so we were able to grab a snack and a drink while we waited.

The second half of the show was way more energetic.

So, what kept me from giving it a perfect score?

I think it's really important for the performers to connect with the audience. Our crowd was super into it, but I didn't get the sense that the performers were really feeling it. Sure, they'd get pumped up when the crowd cheered, but when we all stood up and started applauding at the end, they just bailed on stage.

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. I get that the performers were exhausted after two hours, but it would've been awesome to throw in a super popular song hook for the audience - just a small snippet, not the whole thing.

That little detail really took away from the overall experience of the concert.

Thanks for sticking around!